


Cupid

by Okumen



Series: 100 Lifetimes [18]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: 100 Lifetimes Challenge, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-16 01:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16944303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okumen/pseuds/Okumen
Summary: Taku’s aim is off, and his arrow flies in a bad direction.





	1. Chapter 1

Taku’s aim is off, he’s feeling out of it, can’t really focus properly.

The twang of the bowstring is jarring in his ears, and when the sound of a dog barking startles him, his next arrow goes haywire, shooting far above the target boards. Taku hears a startled shriek-squeak-sound. Startled in turn, Taku hurries across the archery yard and past the target boards and the high wooden fence that walled them off to passersbys on other areas of the training yard.

It’s a relief to see that the person who had let out that noise isn’t hurt, only alarmed and possibly shocked. The stray arrow is imbedded at the stranger’s feet, perfectly placed right in the middle between them, and the other man looks up with a snap of his head turning toward Taku.

“I’m sorry, my arrow was not meant to go so far,” Taku says as a weak excuse. He offers his hand to the stranger, who first pulls the arrow out of the ground, and then grasps the reached-out hand. He is pulled up to his feet, clasping Taku’s hand, and his breath momentarily brushes over Taku’s lips before he releases him and steps back; Taku takes the arrow that the man holds out for him to take. He hopes that he isn’t blushing, but his cheeks are heated with the breath on his lips and the eyes on him.

The man’s eyes are focused on him, intense and searching. There is knowledge in them that Taku lacks. But then the man grins sheepishly, rubs at his cheek with an open palm, and his hand drifts toward the back of his neck. “No worries, I just got startled’s all. You shot it all the way from over that? You gotta be kidding, that’s amazing.”

If Taku’s face goes even redder, then the other man doesn’t comment on it yet at least.


	2. Chapter 2

Lassie says that Taku is his soulmate, and he laughs like he means it in that romantic way they mean it in movies or in books. He twirls Taku across a dance floor, his long legs clad in tightly fitted suit slacks tangling in Taku’s hide hakama skirts, and he smiles like he’s the happiest man in the world, in all worlds.

Taku thinks he’s a weirdo, but then Lassie is a weirdo from name to attitude from the moment he opened his mouth and complimented his range with the bow instead of being concerned over almost being hit by the stray arrow.

Being called a soulmate is strange and a little bizarre, but the look in the man’s eyes tells Taku that he’s wholly genuine, and maybe it’s not really like in the movies, or in the books, the soulmate thing, but the emotion behind the words are heartfelt, warm and soft and gentle.

It was a silly little romance that nobody expected to go anywhere. After all, a dancer and an archer, outwardly simply an outgoing man and an ill-tempered one, didn’t seem a good match to outside eyes. But they were more than the feelings that could be seen by others, they were tangled together by limbs and by soul. They weren’t so different that they couldn’t meld together, yet they weren’t so alike that they could find no comfort.

Fingers tangle in long strands of hair, press against a warm neck, as the song reaches its end, and they had both entirely forgotten that they were not alone until they were startled apart by the applause that came with their kiss. Lassie’s face flushed as crimson as Taku’s, and, abashed, they both hid their faces in each other’s clothes or in their hands, embarrassed at the attention so focused on them.

Sure they were getting married and all, but that didn’t mean that people had to stare that much.


	3. Chapter 3

Taku calls Lassie’s name peculiar, and it’s not like he’s wrong. Honestly, Lassie himself thinks it’s a peculiar name. But he doesn’t hate it and as such he hasn’t bothered to change it. Plus, it’s pretty good to have a name that stands out when you’re gunning for a career within a competitive field.

So Lassie smiles and laughs and agrees wholeheartedly, each time Taku teases him over his name. It’s not ill-meant, it’s fond, except that first time when it was just incredulous, and it makes Lassie think of how things could be much much worse, as they had been in the past.

Not that Taku knows about the dreams that aren’t dreams, that slip through Lassie’s mind through the nights and become more and more tangible and real.

Taku doesn’t believe Lassie means it literally, when he says that they’re soulmates. It’s fine, though. Lassie knows that they’re meant for each other, even when they’re not, and he’s just happy that this time, he gets to be with the one person that he truly, genuinely loves with all his heart, his soul, his very existence and being, to his core.

He picks Taku up in his arms, Taku’s legs in his grasp and Taku lets out an undignified squeak and he grasps at Lassie’s shoulders tightly, hanging on for dear life. Lassie doesn’t let go, doesn’t drop him, he has strong arms as well as strong legs, and once Taku has gathered his bearings and almost entirely stopped pouting and mostly stopped scolding, Taku leans down to kiss him at the awkward angle Lassie’s grip creates, and Lassie knows that this is bliss.

This lifetime, that he has with his prince, his queen, his beggar, his pauper, his everything, is everything for now, is pure happiness.


End file.
